Laura Ingraham: Ranchers' Dispute Is 'Act of Civil Disobedience'

The family of Cliven Bundy is engaged in an "act of civil disobedience" in battling the federal government over grazing rights for their Nevada cattle herd, radio talk show host Laura Ingraham said.

The Bundys appeared on Ingraham's radio show and said they were willing to pay the grazing fees under dispute to the state of Nevada, she said, adding that they "just don't want to pay the federal government."

"I asked them, 'Is this an act of civil disobedience?' It seems to be that's what they're doing," Ingraham told "Fox & Friends" on Tuesday.

The Bureau of Land Management and the elder Bundy are locked in a heated dispute that until recently had been fought in court.

The confrontation spilled over onto the lands where Bundy's cattle graze during an April 9 standoff, when Bundy family members claimed they were harmed by federal agents. Over the weekend, BLM officials seized 400 of the rancher's herd. The cattle were later released.

Though Bundy lost his court battles over the issue, he maintained the land was not federal property. Ingraham suggested there was some basis for Bundy's opposition to the federal government's acquisition of lands in Western states.

"We have to remember that nothing in the U.S. Constitution really allows for the federal government to buy up millions of acres of land and use it for whatever purposes they want.

"They have the ability to set up ports and military bases. But now, I think, there are a lot of Western states, especially, that are trying to push back against this land grab by the federal government," she said.

Ingraham noted the contrast between the federal government's directives regarding illegal immigrants and what took place with the ranchers. She said Border Patrol agents are instructed to "back off when an illegal immigrant throws rocks or other projectiles at them," while telling 200 officials to engage in direct confrontation with the American ranchers.

"I think to regular folks, this seems like wrong. This doesn't seem like the right type of response," Ingraham said.